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Sparda
Sparda is a character from the Devil May Cry series. He was a demon warrior of great power that rebelled against the demon emperor Mundus and defeated his army. He is also the father of Dante and Vergil, the husband of their human mother Eva and the grandfather of Nero. Biography Appearance In his human disguise, Sparda was a tall, handsome man with blue eyes, a young face, and slicked-back white hair. He is shown to have worn a purple Victorian outfit with a white cravat, a large red jewel around his neck, and a monocle over his left eye. While riding into battle on horseback, he would wear armor reminiscent of his demon form. In his true form, Sparda was a slightly-larger-than-human-sized, vaguely insectoid demon with clawed hands, a scaly hide, a pair of downward facing ram horns, chiropteran wings with beetle-like wings underneath, hooves for feet, and reptilian spines protruding from his back. Parts of his body appeared to be made of grey scales with accents of red and purple. He also had gold veins on his hands and arms, chest, shoulders and back, a red diamond eye shaped gem in the center of his forehead, and skull-shaped gold knees and elbow guards with small horns. His most notable feature were his slit-like eyes, which glowed red and did not have pupils. He is often shown wreathed in fire, although it is uncertain if he was simply impervious to it or if he summoned it. Personality Although not much is known about him on a personal level, it is said that he was both rebellious like Dante and level-headed like Vergil. He was well revered and respected by many demons for his heroism while in service to Mundus, describing him as a "hero among heroes". Legends speak fondly of his courage, righteousness and his thankless missions to protect the human world at the expense of being labelled as a traitor by all of his demon brethren. Sparda's wife, Eva, always described him as being a noble fighter with courage and a righteous heart. Sparda understood honor and possessed great wisdom. in the anime, Sparda had two apprentices, Baul and Modeus, though he only entrusted his true strength and power to the kind-hearted Modeus as opposed to his colder brother Baul. Not long before his rebellion, he swore an oath with his students to live true to their aspirations. Story Early life Sparda was the most powerful demon swordsman in Hell. At some point he "woke up to justice", having seen the tyranny and injustice of the Dark Emperor Mundus and rebelled, fighting to save humanity. He alone defeated the hellish host, before moving on to the Emperor of Darkness himself. Sparda defeated Mundus, sealing him into a marble vault, and what was left of Mundus's armies retreated back into the demon world. In order to close the gateway, Sparda used his own blood, along with the blood of a human priestess (an ancestor of Lady), in conjunction with his sword and a mystical amulet. He poured his demonic energy into his beloved sword (which was also named Sparda) to close the door between realms, the Temen-ni-gru, though this also robbed him of the lion's share of his abilities. As an added measure, he also imprisoned within the tower its gatekeepers, Cerberus, Agni & Rudra, Nevan, Beowulf and Leviathan, and took the names of the Seven Sins in order to imprison them and set them as seals keeping the Temen-ni-gru underground. Fortuna and the Vie de Marli Later, he sealed another part in hell in Fortuna using the Yamato. Sparda's activities over the next two thousand years are shrouded in legend, though it is understood that for a time after defeating Mundus, he ruled over the humans before eventually vanishing. The demon Berial implies that he encountered Sparda when he came to the Human World two millennium prior. Sparda once fought alongside the Vie de Maril clan and later crossed into the demon world and returned. During this time, Sparda fought against Argosax and Bolverk. Later life and death Sparda later appeared in the twentieth century where he met and fell in love with a human woman named Eva, who bore him twin sons. Although the full circumstances are so far unknown, Sparda later disappeared and eventually died at some point. Other appearances DmC: Devil May Cry In Ninja Thoery's reimagining game, Sparda was once a powerful demon king, who once worked alongside Mundus, his blood brother, as his right-hand man and most trusted lieutenant during the former's rise to power over 9,000 years prior to Dante and Vergil's birth. However, he eventually fell in love with the angel Eva, and the happy pair were gifted with twin sons, Dante and Vergil. For the crime of bringing Nephilim into the world, Mundus sent his hunters after Sparda and Eva, and eventually tracked him down to his mansion, Paradise. During the attack, Eva was killed by Mundus while Sparda took Dante and Vergil away from their home, erasing their memories and hiding them, separately, among the humans in order to protect them. Sparda was eventually captured by the demons and condemned to endure eternal punishment and pain as a prisoner of Mundus. Powers and Abilities The exact extent of Sparda's powers remains unknown; but it is shown that his powers surpassed even Mundus himself, evidenced when Sparda single-handedly defeated Mundus and his demonic armies, also implying that he possessed power upon a godly scale. As such, Sparda is regarded as the most powerful demon in the Devil May Cry series. His powers are often held in high regard by human and demon alike. His very tremendous prowess is due to the fact that he embraced humanity. Due to his power, many seek to utilize his weapons such as the Sword of Sparda to gain power equivalent to his own. The immensity of his power is shown where his very blood that courses through his spawn, bestow the latter with great physical prowess and magical abilities. In the anime, he was also implied to be a powerful master swordsman, as he trained Baul and Modeus into powerful swordsmen and Modeus stated that Sparda was "the best swordsman in the Demon World", although Dante went so far as to mock his father's sword work when he faced Baul. He was also a very adept in magical seals or binding spells, having sealed away extremely powerful demons such as the likes of Mundus and Argosax and was even able to craft various magical items such as the Perfect Amulets and created the Rebellion and Yamato swords, which later ended up as keepsakes for his twin sons Dante and Vergil respectivly. Weapons Sparda is known to have used both Yamato and the Force Edge. The former he used as a key to lock the demon world away from the human world, and he sealed the power of the latter with the Perfect Amulet, turning it into the Force Edge. Also, in Devil May Cry 3, it is stated that Rebellion is a memento from Sparda to Dante, though its exact significance is unknown. He also used the Luce & Ombra, his own hand made pistols. Trivia *Sparda, when pronounced in Japanese (スパーダ Supāda), sounds like "Espada" (Spanish/Portuguese: Sword),or "Spada" which also mean sword in Italian. *Sparda wore purple as his trademark color and his sons, Dante and Vergil, wear red and blue respectively. The two colors, when combined, create purple. *So far, it is unknown how Sparda actually died, Dante also believes there is much confusion surrounding his father and his legacy. *Although Sparda himself has yet to make an actual appearance in a game, beating Devil May Cry on Hard Mode allows players to unlock him and his human form as alternate in-game bonus skins and replay the entire game as him. These alternate skins also appears in Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (and its updated version) and Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition. **Arkham temporarily takes Sparda's form in Devil May Cry 3. *Sparda appears as an unlockable icon in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. To unlock players must reach Rank 14 with Dante. Upon reaching rank 22 players are also granted a Sparda themed wallpaper. References Gallery Image:Dark_Knight_Sparda.png|Art of Legendary Dark Knight Sparda Image:Dante DLC 13547 640screen.jpg|Dante's Sparda skins from UMvC3 Image:VJRHR_Dante_Sparda.png|PSP version of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble (Dante's EX skin) Image:DmC_Devil_May_Cry_Sparda.png|The DmC: Devil May Cry counterpart. Category:Characters Category:Devil May Cry Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Heroes Category:Deceased Characters Category:Monsters Category:Demons Category:Non-Human Characters